It was around eight at night when she got the letter.
It had been an odd one, that was for sure. Over the last few years, she had been going back and forth with a penpal on the other side of the nation. They had kept up their weekly letters ever since she started, those five years ago. The topics went all over the place usually; How the week went, what was happening soon, who was meeting who, etcetera etcetera. The last time she had sent a letter, she had made a quick note about how it had been years and yet they had never once even seen a picture of each other!
This latest letter, from what she could read, almost seemed to be written in haste. The text, usually written quite well and with a unique style, was messy and more than a bit smudged in places. The letter had even been a bit wrinkled when she had pulled it out of the mail! But the contents were anything but; her penpal, who she had come to know as Jenny, wrote about how she would love to come visit and finally see her face-to-face. She even promised to visit “very, very soon” with “all the others”, as the letter put it. How she would find the place, Darcy didn’t know. All her mail went to a PO box rather than her front door, as it happened. She just had a friend haul it over whenever they were in the neighborhood.
She hadn’t thought anything of it when she first read it, though. She would probably just send an address in the next letter to meet at. Maybe one of the local burger joints? Those were always good places to meet with people. And they could have lunch while they met in person for the first time! That would be nice. Still, that was probably going to be a week or two away at this point. She could figure out the specifics of where later.
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Falling back against the couch, Darcy glanced up at the clock. It was around eleven, it seemed. The perfect time to watch one of those old horror movies she got from her dad! Picking up the remote, she dropped a plate of pizza onto the cushion next to her and prepared to turn on the TV when the doorbell rang. Throwing a confused look over to the hall, she quickly got up with a grumble and moved to answer the door. Who the hell would be out and about at this hour? Actually, nevermind. She knew the answer to that question easily enough.
Pulling open the door, she was surprised to find herself face-to-face with what looked to be a teenager. The girl was dressed in some sort of school uniform she couldn’t identify, and had her blonde hair draped across her back and along her shoulders. The girl cracked a wide grin and leaned in, emerald eyes practically sparkling as she spoke in a near-perfect English accent…
“Evening, Darcy! Having a pleasant night, I hope?” The girl asked, her grin seeming to grow ever so slightly as confusion spread across Darcy’s face.
“Uh- I’m sorry, do I know you?” She questioned, a vague sense of discomfort hitting her as she glanced behind the girl. The front yard and driveway were practically pitch-black outside of the porch light. Wasn’t tonight supposed to be a full moon?
The girl leaned back, her smile not changing in the slightest as she gave a small curtsy to Darcy. “Of course you do! After all, me and mine HAVE been writing to you for about five years now!” She cocked her head slightly before continuing. “We did say we were going to visit soon, didn't we?”
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A look of realization hit Darcy. “Jenny? That’s… I knew you said that, but- I never gave you an address. How did you even find me?” A moment’s thought brought up another question. “And why are you here so late? And I have to ask, how old are you? You look young.”
The girl smiled just a little larger as she stepped forward, walking into the house and past Darcy with a small bump on the older woman’s shoulder. Turning towards the teen, she couldn’t help but jump as the door suddenly slammed shut behind her! The teen in question turned on a heel and laughed, her grin turning into a smirk for a moment.
“Simple questions, simple answers!” She quipped, holding up a finger. “First one? Why, we just had to do a little looking was all! Wasn’t too hard to find you, Darcy. Never usually is with people, ha!” The unnerving nature of the statement was seemingly ignored by the girl as she threw a second finger up. “Second one! Well, me and mine have a little trouble getting around during the day, you see. A one hour trip turns into three! When it gets to the evening, though, it’s really easy to get around! So, sorry about that.” A third finger went up, and her smirk turned back into a grin. “And finally, the third one. Just turned seventeen a week ago, though my companions are a bit all over the place in that dynamic.”
Darcy paused as she processed that last statement, glancing around the girl who was now leaning on the couch in the living room. “Companions?” She queried. “But… you’re the only person here, besides me.”
Jenny seemed to pause at thought, glancing to her side with a frown before snapping her fingers. “Oh, right! I forgot, my bad. I’m so used to others seeing them, it’s a little difficult to remember most people can’t!”
Darcy paused again at that, raising a brow as she stared at the grinning girl for a moment. “Seeing them…?” She asked, her tone confused as the girl across from her nodded.
“Yep!” Raising a hand, she gave a quick snap of her fingers as she spoke. “This should fix that!”
The room went pitch-black in a moment. All the lights seemingly snapped off at once, and Darcy found herself stumbling back in surprise as darkness overtook her vision. It was only after a moment that she noticed that she could still see Jenny… and it took a second moment for her to notice the figures that stood around the teen.
Tall, robed, gray, and red-eyed were the best descriptor for what she was seeing. They stood around Jenny like a contingent of guards, eyeing Darcy down with quiet stares as she opened and closed her mouth. They had to be at least eight or so feet tall, since they nearly hit the ceiling, and they way they stood… it didn’t look right. It almost looked like they were standing backwards, with what she could see at the bottom of their robes.
“Well, everyone!” Jenny began with a cheerful tone. “Introduce yourselves, yes? I’m sure she’s eager to meet you all!”
The figures, numbering at least six, took the invitation to cross the distance between themselves and Darcy. Within a moment, she now found herself surrounded by the same “companions” that had been surrounding Jenny just a moment before! The one right in front of her seemed to crouch down and make eye contact, staring for a few moments before a shadowy hand reached past the robe and offered itself to her.
“Howdy, partner. Name’s Jake. Been real eager to meetcha!”
The tension she had felt building in her shoulders died in an instant when the accent hit her. Was- was that a country accent?
“I gotta agree, it’s been a real pain not knowing ya personally, you know?” One of the shades behind her continued, a New Yorkers’ accent to his voice.
“Very much so. A travesty, really.” The one to her right, in front of her, continued with some sort of Oriental accent.
“It’s a good thing we are finally dealing with it, then, isn’t it, my friends?” The one to her left, in front of her, remarked with a Spanish accent.
“Yes, yes- is good to finally meet, da?” Another shade continued from behind her, an odd Russian accent to him.
“Truly, it has been much too long.” The final of the six seemed to remark, in a remarkably accurate French accent.
Taking the initial hand that had been offered and giving it a small shake, the woman could only glance around in confusion for a moment before she could figure out what exactly to say. It came to her after another moment.
“What the fuck…?”